The 2016 New York Empire season was the inaugural season of the franchise in World TeamTennis (WTT). The Empire finished last in WTT with 2 wins and 10 losses.
Season recap
Founding of franchise
On February 17, 2016, WTT announced that the league would return to New York City for the 2016 season. The Empire announced it would play its home matches at historic Forest Hills Stadium. The 14,000-seat stadium was to be reconfigured to seat approximately 2,500 fans for Empire home matches. Concurrent with that announcement, the league also reported that the newly formed Empire had acquired the rights to former world number 1 male player Andy Roddick in a trade with the Orange County Breakers. Patrick McEnroe was named the team's head coach. McEnroe said when he received a call from WTT co-founder Billie Jean King and commissioner Ilana Kloss telling him the league was hoping to bring a team back to New York to play in Forest Hills, "That was a no-brainer for me. I'm excited to be back in the game." Speaking about Roddick, McEnroe added, "He and I have a great history. I think he still really loves to play. I'm super happy that he'll be part of the team." "As both a player and an owner I have always enjoyed all that encompasses Mylan WTT," said Roddick. "To be able to play on the legendary courts at Forest Hills and be involved with a team in a city that I love, New York, will make this even more special."
Draft
As an expansion team, the Empire had no returning players to protect in the 2016 WTT draft other than Andy Roddick, whom the team had acquired in a trade. Roddick was protected in the first round of the marquee player portion of the draft, and the Empire passed on making a second marquee selection. In the roster player portion of the draft, the Empire was interested in selecting Christina McHale, a resident of nearby Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and traded up to do so. The trade with the Springfield Lasers gave the Empire the first overall selection in the roster player portion of the draft along with the first pick in the fourth round in exchange for the third pick in each of the first and third rounds. As expected, McHale was taken with the first overall selection. She had previously played in WTT in 2011, with the Kansas City Explorers. The Empire used its next two picks to take a pair of Argentines: Guido Pella and María Irigoyen, neither of whom has played in WTT in the past. Their final choice was the Austrian Oliver Marach, also a WTT rookie. The Empire elected not to choose a roster-exempt player in the fifth round.
Skupski replaces Marach
On July 20, 2016, the Empire announced it had signed 2015 WTT Male Rookie of the Year Neal Skupski to replace Oliver Marach, who had been selected to represent Austria at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Pella selected for Argentina's Olympic team
On July 29, 2016, the Empire announced that it had signed Noah Rubin and Daniel Nguyen as substitute players to replace Guido Pella, who was to play in the Empire's first three matches of the season before going to Rio de Janeiro to represent Argentina at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Rubin was scheduled to appear in the Empire's home match on August 3. Nguyen appeared in road matches on August 5 and 6. Rubin, who is from nearby Rockville Centre, New York, said, "I am truly excited to play in front of a home crowd. Being from New York, I grew up watching World TeamTennis and it will be great to compete in it." He added, "I was always around the old New York Sportimes team and really found it to be a blast. Being able to play against some pretty good competition in a fun atmosphere is something I really look forward to. It's a really fun thing for the players and for the fans. Very interactive."
Inaugural match
The Empire made its debut on July 31, 2016, with a home match against the five-time defending WTT champion Washington Kastles. The match opened with Guido Pella and Neal Skupski dropping a men's doubles tiebreaker. The Empire won only one set, when Pella took the men's singles, 5–2. The Kastles won the match, 22–15.